June Family Movie Roundup

Star Wars IV: A New Hope

Finn is still a little too antsy to watch this movie without being annoying, but they made it through. The second half was particularly enthralling. Every time a new character was introduced, Avery asked “Is he gonna die?” Meanwhile, Finn spent the middle 3/4 of the movie asking “When’s Dark Vader coming back on?” He has tons of Star Wars stuff but no knowledge, yet, of the story. I’m gonna show the kids the films in the Machete order. Jenny will give me the steering wheel on this one.

The Indian in the Cupboard

A fun return to a story I loved as a kid. I read this book several times, though by the time the movie came out I was too old to see it, and had no young people through whom I might have seen it. The film adaptation is fine, though I don’t really like the decision to shift it from England to America (at least, I remember it being in England). Two surprises: first, Steve Coogan plays the WW1 medic Omri brings to life to treat Little Bear. I thought it was weird that Steve Coogan has played TWO military men animated from figurines (he was also in Night at the Museum and its sequel). I was also surprised to find Lindsay Crouse as Omri’s mother, as we had just watched “Sex and the Married Detective,” a late 80s episode of Columbo in which Crouse plays a murderous sex therapist with a famous book called The Courtesan Complex.

Also viewed with the kids: Madagascar 3 and Brave (both to be reviewed as grown-up movies later)